The First Apprentice
by GreyWolfNala
Summary: My take on if Halt had an apprentice before Will and Gilan
1. Prologue

Before Will and Gilan Halt had another apprentice, the best in the corps, a master of unseen movement, the finest shot the corps had ever seen. The apprentice was also the youngest to receive the silver oak leaf. She started her apprenticeship at nine years old. Before that she was raised by Halt, he found her at four years old wandering the forests of Hackham Heath. The cavalry almost ran over her in their haste to find a ford. However Halt saw her holding a Saxe knife. She was only four years old but when he tried to grab her to bring her to a safer location she gave him a nasty bruise with the butt of her knife. He eventually grabbed her and realizing there was a ford across the river led the cavalry through there. When he arrived at the commander's tent, the King and the ranger's commandment, along with the battle masters were certainly not expecting to see Halt walking with a little girl at his hip.

"Um Halt," the king asked. "Care to explain yourself?"

"I found her when she was about to be run over by the cavalry. She put up a fight and it looks to me like she has been out in the forest for days. She was also carrying this." Halt said as he set the Saxe she had been carrying on the table.

"She nearly took my eye out." He said as an afterthought.

"How do you know she doesn't have a family?" Battle master Rodney questioned.

"Well look at her, for one she looks as if she's been wandering for days, she is also carrying a knife and is very fond of it." Halt added as the toddler went to reach for the knife.

"Can we deal with this later?" King Duncan questioned. "We are at war."

So the fate of the girl was left undecided. With Halt discovery of the ford, which never would have happened had he not had to capture the girl, the battle was quickly won. After Morgarath fled Halt took the girl and left to go find the child Daniel spoke of. Halt was too late to save the mother so he took Will with them as well. Will was placed in the ward, Halt promising himself that he would train him when Will was old enough. As for the girl, well, he had grown fond of her and decided to raise her.

So began the life of Alexandria or Alex as she liked to be known. When she turned five Halt gave her a miniature recurve bow. She loved archery and soon became an amazing shot. When she was six she was given a double knife scabbard that the rangers all loved. When she was seven she received a cloak and was quickly sent about working on her unseen movement. Alexandria was a genius, she memorized maps and could trace them to perfection, and she had been tacking as long as she remembered. Quickly she ran out of new things to learn so she learned languages. Gallic, Iberian, and Hibernian, one day when she was nine years old she nearly scared Halt out of his wits when she started talking about random things in Hibernian. When Crowley came around to visit a few months later he gave Halt his permission to train her as the youngest ranger the corps had ever seen.


	2. Chapter One: A Rude Awakening

Halt, esteemed member of the Ranger Corps, was having a bad day. And Halt having a bad day is never good. It is never good because a Halt-having-a-bad-day is an angry Halt, and an angry Halt is bad.

He woke up this morning cold with all his blankets having disappeared in the middle of the night, only to find decaf coffee in the coffee pot and wildflowers tied to his bow. His apprentice of three years, Gilan, looked out onto the terrifying scene from the safety of his tent silently wondering who would be brave enough to do such a thing. However, Halt knew exactly who it was. Only two people in the world would have enough audacity, enough bravery to do this, and Crowley was still asleep. No, this was the work of his former apprentice.

"ALEXANDRIA CAITLYN O'CARRICK!" The call echoed through the camp and Halt stalked angrily to a tent situated not far from his own with a figure sitting down on the outside. Their back was turned and they sat, huddled in their cloak, facing their fire. Gilan wondered who it could be because the tent was not there last night when the rangers had all retired. Gilan saw other rangers emerge from their tents at the sound of Halts yell and look towards the new tent.

"Good luck Alex!" Crowley, commandment of the ranger corps, who had finally emerged from his tent at the sound of the yells, toasted his pre-made coffee at the tent while some of the other rangers sat with their groups chuckling and throwing looks to where Halt was headed.

"He even used the middle name!" A senior Ranger howled, nearly spilling the precious coffee on himself.

"Alexandria Caitlyn O'Carrick! How dare you replace my coffee, and steal my blankets, and insult my bow with those hideous wildflowers!" Halt shouted at the sitting figure.

"I win." The person said quite smugly. "After all these years I surprised you at the gathering! Crowley is going to be jealous, and you didn't even see it coming."

"I would be jealous but I value my life more than you Alexandria, especially when it comes to Halt and his coffee! And the wildflowers! That's low, even for you!" Crowley shouted across the camp like it was an everyday occurrence.

"Everyone knows your secret anyway Halt. Don't pretend like you don't love the flowers." She said, looking up at him with a very, very smug grin. As the person stood up Gilan realized that the voice was a girl's, only a few years older than him. She threw off her hood revealing a long, black braid of hair and a cheerful grin on a tanned face.

"You know your happy to see me Halt!" Alexandria said, her grin growing even wider. Halt merely raised his eyebrow in a very Halt like manner and staggered back as Alexandria pounced on him with a massive hug, but nevertheless hugged her back.

"It's good to see you dad." Alexandria softly said to him.

"It's good to see you too 'Dria." He said back with a small smile on his face releasing her from the hug, and leading her over to where Gilan sat watching. "When did you arrive, I thought you weren't coming this year?"

"The bandits were cleared up faster than Crowley or I thought. They just needed some gentle persuasion with the end of my arrows." Alex grinned at him. "Still leaving me enough time to make it to the gathering before it officially began."

They arrived at Halt and Gilan tents. Gilan bravely peaking out of his tent, a look of utter befuddlement gracing his face.

"You're going to have to drag your tent over to ours. Graduated or not, there's no way I'm letting you run around the grounds unsupervised. Lord knows what kind of trouble you'll get in!" Halt stated.

"I'm wounded!" She gasped, hand to her chest. "Don't you have any faith in me?"

"No." He admitted dryly.

"Um Halt?" A dimmed voice peaked from the tent flap. "Can I make the coffee?"

"What kind of question is that? Idiot apprentices. Of course you can make the coffee!"

"Ahhh this must be Gilan! Halt's told me all about you in his letters." Alex brightly said, grinning widely. "I'm Alex! From the look on your face though I don't think he has ever mentioned me."

"Um no he hasn't." Gilan mumbled, finally crawling out of his tent.

"I thought you were going to make the coffee?" Halt chimed in, always having his priorities in perfect order.

"So how old are you exactly? You don't look twenty." Gilan stated, sitting in front of the fire. The cool morning air was quickly filled with the scent of coffee as more and more rangers either arrived or woke up. Sounds of soft voices filled the morning, rangers reuniting with old friends and apprentices grumbling, still not used to the early, early mornings that would now fill their life.

"Well, I've actually just turned seventeen." Alex mumbled, her face half in the glorious beverage that was her coffee.

"Stop mumbling or I'll take it away from you. We've been over this." Halt grumbled into his own coffee.

Alex merely rolled her eyes at him and continued drinking.

"But wait, if you're seventeen how are you a graduated ranger?" Gilan inquired.

"You know how you started training at fifteen?" She questioned. "Well I started my training at nine. And besides, not all apprenticeships take five years. Some will take longer and some a lot shorter."

It was true. No two apprenticeships were the same. Alex's apprenticeship took five years, purely because of her age. If she was apprenticed at fifteen like most, she would have been trained for three years before graduating. However, it was hard enough to help police a fife at sixteen, much less at fourteen. She worked hard to earn her place at her fife. In fact, the baron hated being assigned a sixteen year old(even if that sixteen year old was a ranger), until she single-handedly prevented a massive raid on the castle stronghold. In her opinion, it was pure luck that it had gone that smoothly and she almost wished she had stayed with Halt for a little while longer. But less than a year after she had left, Gilan was apprenticed.

"Well, this has been a rather interesting discussion! However, Gilan, you have practice to do. Just because we're at the gathering doesn't mean you won't train. And Alexandria, you get to explain to Crowley why all my paperwork is ruined from water!" Halt suspiciously said.

"What do you mean Halt? I never touched your papers!"

Halt smugly pointed to where his papers now sat, soaking wet, in a water bucket. The ink had bled into the water which made the words impossible to read.

"No you didn't. But Crowley doesn't have to know that little detail!"

"Halt. You are a despicable human being." She slammed her now empty coffee cup onto a log.

"I am very well aware. But that's now a full night in a tree instead of a half."


	3. Chapter Two: Paperwork

"So you're expecting me to believe that Halt purposely sabotaged his own paperwork, for the off chance that you could get in trouble and have to do the the work for him?" Crowley said rubbing his head. It was barely nine in the morning and he already had a strong headache forming. However, with Halt and Alexandria in the same space, it wasn't surprising. He considered them family in every sense of the word, but sometimes he wanted to strangle the pair of them.

"That's exactly what happened! I'm perfectly innocent!" Her eyes widened, the picture of perfect innocence. However, Crowley knew better. After all, he had helped raise her.

"If it was any other person I wouldn't believe them. But it's you and Halt so I'm honestly not surprised." His eyebrow rose. "As for you being innocent, remember who you're talking too. I practically raised you!"

"Crowley I'm wounded!" Her face was a mask of hurt and pain.

"No you're not." He replied, completely unsympathetic. "Just for that though, you get to evaluate the first year's shooting."

"Ugh I hate you!" She shouted dramatically, running out of the tent.

"No you don't!" He cheerfully yelled back.

"Five arrows each, fifteen, twenty, and thirty yards, standing. One minute. Begin!" Alex shot out to the boys, leaning against a tree in the shade. It seemed like forever ago when she was in their position. Except for her it was totally different. The three boys were within a year of each other in age and they were all, well, boys. She had been nine when she took her first assessment and the only female in the camp. Now, she was still the only female, but at least she wasn't the youngest. However, the senior rangers still viewed her as a kid. It wasn't an insult to her skills or experience but she had been coming to the gathering since she could walk.

Back then, her days had been spent hanging out with all of the senior rangers in the commandments tent or running around with the retired ones.

"And times up! Let's see how you did." She said, already walking over to the first target.

It was Adney's target, Barlow's apprentice if she remembered correctly. All of his arrows were within the third circle.

"Not bad Adney." She said, moving to the next target.

The middle target was Cadby's, Channing's apprentice. He had done a little worse than Adney but still not bad.

"Not bad either! You can easily keep improving on your aim though. Don't let your pointer finger snag the string so much as you fire and you'll be much more accurate.

The last target was Gilan's. He had done exceptionally well for a first year. All of his arrows were within the second ring. She knew it was the training with Halt. Halt was known to give his apprentices extremely hard tasks, no matter their year in training, and expect them to be done completely. So Gilan had probably been doing this since he was first given his bow. Alex didn't know exactly how Halt was training him but she knew in her time as an apprentice failure was never tolerated and punishments were swift and sharp for any misstep. Maybe Halt just trained her harder because he raised her but she doubted it.

"You all did very well! You're dismissed for lunch! Remember, you have your tracking assessment at midday so don't be late ." Cadby and Adney practically ran off at the thought off food. It had been a long four days for all the apprentices. Practically their every waking moment was spent in assessments so they were glad for any break. Alex definitely didn't miss that part of apprenticeships. It was quite nice to be able to relax with all the other rangers instead of worrying about testing.

"Ummm Alex can I talk to you?" Gilan walked over to her.

"Of course Gilan! What do you need?"

"I'm worried about my shooting!" He exclaimed, and in one massive breath spat. "Halt never says anything about it and I don't ever know what he thinks of it. And you were his apprentice once before so I wanted to ask you and you-."

"Wow! Calm down Gilan." She interrupted. "First off your shooting is great. You did much better than any of the other first years! Second, Halt never says anything other than what you did wrong. Trust me, I was raised by him. That's just how he is. I'm positive he is proud of your shooting but he won't ever tell you that. Something about ego. I don't really know."

"Are you positive?" Worried eyes stared up at her. "I don't know why but I'm now terrified of disappointing him. Like, even worse than my father!"

"Halt has that effect on people. You just have to learn to accept it as your new normal and move on with your life."

"Thank you so so so much!" Gilan was relieved that someone else understood what he was going through.

"Anytime Gilan!" Alex put her hand on his shoulder. "You're Halt's apprentice now. That practically makes you my little brother!" Then turning to face him her face grew more serious. "If you need anything, no matter what. Anything at all. I'm one letter away and I'll help you. I promise you!"

Suddenly, Gilan threw his arms around her in a massive bear hug.

"Thank you 'Lexa."

"I've never heard that one before!" She laughed. "But I like it! Now run on ahead! You need to get food, your tracking assessment starts in thirty minutes."

"Where are you going?"

"I just have a few things that need to be done before tomorrow. I'll see you tonight. Okay?"

"Okay!" He yelled over his shoulder as he ran off.

The day had just barely hit midday and Alex was already completely exhausted. Once Gilan ran off she had to go deal with Crowley and his idiotic paperwork. Apparently, Halt had gotten ahold of him and achieved the sweet, sweet revenge he so desperately craved.

'No surprise there.' She snorted.

"Snorting is for horses Alex." Crowley turned to look at her. "Or are you trying to imitate Athena?"

"Shut up Crowley. At this rate if this damned paperwork doesn't kill you I will."

Crowley just laughed and continue writing.

"So how did you outsmart the bandits at Trenton?" He turned to her. Of course he had read her report but those were impersonal and short. Only designed to give the bare minimum of what had happened.

"Pure luck Crowley. Pure luck."

It was pouring rain in Meric Fief. The rain had been coming down for days, nonstop, drenching everything in its path. Farmers were happy. Although they didn't leave the comfort of their houses they knew that their fields would be well watered for the season. In fact, no one left their house unless it was absolutely necessary. Only those who absolutely had to.

The poor man in the carrigee absolutely had to. He drew the short straw on his luck which had led him to his current predicament. Taking the baron the villages taxes. Normally, even the rain wouldn't have bothered him. Although his horses were coated in mud and completely exhausted. He was quite warm and dry in the covered wagon. No, something else was making his otherwise pleasant trip miserable, and that something was bandits.

There had been talk of bandits for the past few weeks. Whispers of a group that was stealing tax money and killing its carrier. The local ranger had been alerted, of course, but nothing had happened so far. So that was why it was only by pure necessity that he was out here tonight.

His horses slammed to a stop, plunging against their reigns in pure fright, as a figure jumped right in front of them. The tax collectors heart plummeted. The bandits were attacking him!

"Now little mister!" The man in the road shouted over the rain. "We have you good and surrounded 'ya hear? You just climb outta that wagon and we'll get 'ya fixed up! Then we can all be on our way!"

The tax collected cursed as he realized he had been indead surrounded. Ten bandits had circled around the carriage, big knives in their hands and mean grins on their faces.

The man turned in his seat to dismount and met eyes with the figure hidden in the back corner of the carriage.

"Ten!" He mouthed at the figure, eyes wide with fright.

The figure merely shook their head and slowly sat up. As they did, the little light outside shown in, illuminating the silver oakleaf hanging from their neck.

"Quite taking your time! Get down here now!" The same bandit snarled at him.

He finished climbing down the carriage, immediately being grabbed by a bandit who pushed a gleaming knife against his throat.

"Now little mister! Tell me when the other wagons are gonna come through and we'll give you a quick death."

Suddenly, a razor sharp arrow flew from inside the carriage, slamming between the feet of the man.

"King's Ranger!" The figure shouted, jumping from the entrance of the carriage. "Drop your weapons, now!"

The men laughed as they took in the size of the figure. But their laughing was quickly cut off when they fully registered the ranger's words.

Rangers were nothing to mess around with. Anyone who attacked one was met with the full force of the king's law. No one here wanted that.

"Come on men! Ten of us, one of them. We can take 'em!"

The figure merely sighed. "I hoped you wouldn't say that."

"It sounds to me like your job went pretty smoothly." Crowley interrupted.

"Yes, but that was before the tax collector had to be an idiot and take off running." Alex groned.

Once the man had started running, all hell had broken loose. Half the bandits had ran towards her and the other half had gone to the tax collector. She had been fine but the other man had barely escaped with his life.

"Well villagers are known to be idiots sometimes."

"Yes but I never quite realized how idiotic until I got Meric."

Crowley straightened up his papers. "Speaking of which, are you going to stay in Redmount for a few days after the gathering?"

"Yes," She replied, rolling up her papers. "Hopefully for a few days at least. Before this week I hadn't seen Halt in almost two years. I don't know how long Meric is going to stay this quiet."

"I can understand that. But why anyone would willingly stay with Halt is beyond me! You and Gilan are crazy!"

She grinned at him as she stood. "Oh shut up Crowley! Everyone knows yall two are best friends. You've known him a lot longer than I have!"


	4. Chapter Three: Three Seconds Too Slow

The gathering was, sadly, drawing to a close. There were no graduations this year so it was five days instead of the normal, six. Tents were being packed up, fires were being put out, horses were being saddled, and tearful goodbyes were being said.

The bond between rangers ran deeper than most and their life was a dangerous one. They weren't just coworkers, they were family. Family forged because they were the only ones who understood the daily struggles and secrecy that each ranger had to go through.

Apprentices of all ages watched as their masters said goodbye to all their friends. Embracing them and wishing them the best. The apprentices who were in their last year of training had been to enough gatherings to know that sometimes, rangers wouldn't return for the next year or ever again.

Alexandria walked over to where Gilan was watching Halt say goodbye to Silas, his longtime friend who had just retired. Silas had known Halt since the reformation of the corps and each had saved the life of the other to many times to ever count. Alex knew that Halt considered Silas a uncle and he had appeared at the cabin unannounced to many times to count. He was there so much when she was younger that he had been the one to teach her to ride so well. But now, too old to continue the stressing work of a ranger, he had decided to retire.

"Why does everyone seem so sad?" Gilan whispered to her. "They'll see each other sometimes between gatherings, right?"

"I'm sure you've realized the life of a ranger is a dangerous one?" He nodded. "Sometimes Gilan, rangers don't make it back for another gathering and they die in the line of duty. All of us here consider each other family and you never want your family in danger."

"Oh." He said in a small voice. Then reaching for Blaze's saddle, began concentrating furiously on the task.

"I assume I'll be forced to deal with your presence for another few days?" A grim voice asked next to her.

"Why of course! It's tradition isn't it? And I missed the last gathering so we haven't really talked in two years." She replied, spinning around without missing a beat.

"Well you get to sleep on the couch and do chores why your there, Gilan deserves a break" His sly tone gave away his humor.

Her grin gave away hers. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

The ride to Redmount was short, way shorter than the ride to Meric. Still, in that short time, Alex noticed some changes about Halt. Particularly in the way he treated Gilan.

With her he had been unwaveringly strict after she had started her apprenticeship. When she was younger she got away with almost everything as long as she actually tried. But once she officially started, everything changed.

He became almost downright mean in the way her trained her, drilling her for hours if an arrow or knife missed the bullseye. Even if it was by half an inch. If a map wasn't perfect she would have to redraw it over and over again to complete perfection. If he caught her while training in the art of unseen movement, she would be forced to sprint until her legs literally gave out beneath her.

For the first year she wanted anything but to be a ranger, she hated the corps with every fibre in her being. But yet, at her first gathering she shot better than the second years, and no one could find her until the last second in their unseen movement assessment.

When they got back from the first gathering he pushed her even farther. Which she didn't think was possible. Then, she met her worst nightmare, Silas.

If she thought one ranger was bad, two was hell. She would be woken up at all hours of the night and made to run miles. Between the two, they knew all the languages she did and because of that she would have to switch between them multiple times every conversation. She was forced to wake up ridiculously early every single morning and they kept her awake past midnight every night.

Some weeks, she wouldn't be allowed to sleep for days and eat the bare minimum and was still expected to be able to function at the normal level of a ranger.

She hated both of them with a burning passion. But yet, some small part of her welcomed the challenge. Deep down inside she knew exactly what they were doing. Trying to break her. Training her for sleep and food deprivation, and to still have endurance. Silas and Halt were training her to be able to survive and evade capture. The realization that this is why she had been put through hell for two years didn't make it any easier though. But one day it all ended.

The hiss of a longbow followed by a smack of it hitting the target rang through the clearing. In the center of the clearing stood a young girl, shoulders sagging and dirt covered. It was clear to any rational human being that she had been awake for days and had not received that much food in that time either.

"Dammit Alexandria! Faster!" A harsh voice cut through her like a knife.

"I'm trying Silas!" She lowered the longbow, looking at her fingers. The calluses had recently broke, leaving her fingers bloody and bruised.

"Well you obviously are not or else we wouldn't be having this conversation!" He yelled right into her face, inches away.

Any other teenager would have been terrified of Silas. But Alexandria was no ordinary teenager. Thus, she felt no fear, just downright exhaustion.

"Two miles, fourteen minutes. Hand to hand with Halt once you get back. If you're not sprinting I'll know and you'll do it all again. Go!" He spat out at her and you took off into the woods at a dead sprint. He knew she wouldn't dare disobey him.

"It's time." He said to Halt who came and stood by him. "She's about to break."

"I feel so bad doing this to her! I just want to tell her that I don't mean anything I say or do!" Halt cried.

"I know but this is how we were trained too. And when she breaks we pick up the pieces and then you start actually caring for her again." Silas calmly replied, his hand coming to rest on Halt's shoulder.

"She hates us, me most of all."

"She doesn't know the truth Halt. We were both trained this way, as was Crowley. Everyone was before the reformation. The only reason we don't do it now is because no one has the heart to."

"Thanks for telling me I'm an awful human." Halt replied, dryly.

"I didn't mean it that wa- Quick she's coming!"

Both men separated and donned their masks of steel as Alex rounded the corner, still in a dead sprint. If they were going to finish this phase of her training it had to be today. Her mind may be strong but her body was slowly giving out.

"Till you are pinned twelve times or until you pin Halt." Silas yelled at the heaving Alex, not even giving her a chance to catch her breath. "Begin!"

Halt immediately descended on her, throwing her to the ground without mercy and put her in a choke hold.

"One!" Silas shouted. "Begin again!"

Alex crawled to her knees swaying as Halt pounced on her again. She tried to put up a fight but he once again pinned her.

"Again!"

This time, something in Alex snapped. She punched and kicked but to no avail. Halt slammed her into the dirt, dust clouds flying around them.

"Get up!" Silas yelled, inwardly hoping that this was it.

'Please, please let her be done! Let us be finally done with this!' He prayed to whatever god was out there.

"I said get up!" He yelled again and Alex's shoulders started shaking.

Alex sat hunched on the dirt and cried. She was done.

'Oh thank god!' Silas thought. 'We're finally done!'

Halt sat next to her on the ground and pulled her into a hug.

"Please no more dad! Please no more!" She cried, for the first time since she was small.

"Shhh 'Dria it's all over. You've finished that training for today. I'm proud of you." Halt quietly said to her. "Let's get you inside. Silas and I will explain everything."

Silas came forward now, pulling her out of Halt's arms into a hug and then looking her directly in the eye.

"You've done well Alexa. Very well."

Halt walked over to them and slung one of her arms around his shoulder and Silas copied the action. Slowly, Alex staggered back to the cabin.

Alex remembered after sleeping and eating for two days straight, they sat her down and explained everything that had happened in those two years. Over time, Halt slowly repaired the torn relationship with her and Silas became the fun uncle she knew and loved today.

They told her that back before the reformation of the corps all apprentices were trained like she was for the first two years of their apprenticeship. When the corps was formed for the first time, many rangers died because they couldn't survive capture and interrogation. So all the masters got together at one gathering and devised a system to make sure it wouldn't happen to their apprentices.

By subjecting their apprentices to harsh conditions over a long time they slowly built up their body's resistance. One day, the apprentice would normally snap and that's when the master knew their apprentice had enough and they could finally move on.

When the time came for the next Gathering she outperformed almost all the apprentices there, with the exception of two fifth years. Once Crowley took one look at her, he knew exactly what happened to her that year. Needless to say he was livid at Halt and Silas.

It was clear by the way Gilan behaved around Halt he had never been treated in such a way, even if it was only his first year.

"How far are we Alexandria?" Halt asked her nonchalantly.

Immediately, she recognized the test. He wanted to see if those maps he drilled into her were still there. She quickly scanned the terrain around her, noting the landmarks.

"We're about two miles from the cabin." She answered back, as fast as possible.

He spun around in his saddle and looked her dead in the eye.

"Three seconds too slow."

"Three seconds too dead." She replied with a nod, understanding his silent order. He would begin training her again.


End file.
